Priscilla read some great things about Doi Inthanon National Park. It’s a large park about 2 hours outside of Chiang Mai, with few public transportation options, so we hired a private driver for the day to get there and explore the park and surrounding areas. We haven’t gone on any strenuous hikes, or spent much time outside cities, since our road trip. This turned out to be just what we were looking for.
The park had many waterfalls that were flowing even during the dry season, and the highest peak in Thailand.
The main reason we hired a private car was to hike the Kew Mae Pan Trail. The tours to the park don’t do this, since it’s a 2 hour hike. This was easily the highlight of Doi Inthanon National Park for us. The entire trip is basically a stepmaster workout, but very rewarding! 
Basically the entire hike was stairs like this. Up and down through incredibly beautiful forests, ridge lines and meadows.
A view of the twin pagodas.
A delicious chicken and sticky rice lunch was our after-hike reward 🙂 
Our last stop in the park was the King and Queen Pagodas, surrounded by beautiful gardens.
Just outside the park is the Royal Project. We’ve seen products from here advertised in stores. They also have a pretty sweet botanic garden.
The Royal Project was created to provide an alternative to opium farming for Thai hill tribes. Its goal is to use a sustainable approach to intensive farming to minimize jungle deforestation. The scope of it is pretty amazing.
Highlights of Doi Inthanon National Park:
- The Kew Mae Pan Trail. This was our absolute MUST DO in Doi Inthanon and we’re really glad we did
- Getting out and hiking in nature again! It’s been awhile
- The Royal Project